


The Camera Never Lies

by mako_and_tails_and_stuff (ElfWhoLikesCookies)



Category: H2O: Just Add Water, Mako Mermaids
Genre: Gen, there's no way the marine park didn't have security cameras
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-11 23:54:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28751004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElfWhoLikesCookies/pseuds/mako_and_tails_and_stuff
Summary: A check on the security cameras at the Marine Park reveals more than Dr Ross was expecting and he finds himself in a situation or two he never expected to be in...
Comments: 15
Kudos: 41





	The Camera Never Lies

**Author's Note:**

> Begins in H2O S1E16: Lovesick and carries on skimming over until Mako Mermaids S2E11: Only As Young As You Feel and afterwards. 
> 
> Hope everyone enjoys!

There was something just not making sense.

Just how does a dolphin as sickly as Ronnie go from being depressed and lethargic, refusing to eat and overall listless - to this? Mitch watched as the dolphin swam up to the dock, straight up to the girl and started chirping away.

The girl tossed a fish to Ronnie and he happily accepted it. The first time Ronnie had let someone hand feed him and it was this girl who's name he couldn't remember right now. He'd been worried about Ronnie ever since he arrived at the park and this was the first step of progress.

He watched over Ronnie most of the day, trying anything to tempt the dolphin into eating but nothing worked. He'd let that girl feed him but no one else. All the other trainers tried to no avail. So he did the worst thing anyone could do - speak to Ms Geddes, the current director of the park. The woman was generally unlikeable and it was a mutual feeling among many of the staff thanks to pay cuts and increased hours. He wasn't the only student working here while at university and was far from the only one disgruntled by the new policies.

But he was professional and she was his boss so he had a pleasant conversation and got the girl's name - Cleo and home number to ask her to come in and help with Ronnie.

Cleo turned up nice and early the next day before the park opened to the public. He filled her in on Ronnie's behaviour since she had left and armed with a bucket of fish they made their way to Ronnie's pen.

Ronnie was lying in the shallows, swimming slowly. Until Cleo walked down to the edge of the dock area.

"Why wouldn't he be eating or sleeping?" Cleo asked.

"I don't know," it was true, Ronnie had nothing medically wrong with him, "it's like he's depressed."

With that Ronnie swam around the dock and surfaced in front of them, happily whistling and chirping before playfully twisting around in the water. A complete 180 from what he was like just minutes before. It was the strangest thing.

"He doesn't look so depressed to me,"

"Well," Mitch couldn't stop his smile, "not now that you're here."

The change was like night and day. In all his years he'd never seen anything like that. Sure dolphins were intelligent creatures but he'd never heard of them developing such intense feelings towards humans that they were depressed when they left. They often gave reactions to the people who worked with them and fed them, but not one of the grounds crew. He vaguely remembered the girl starting as one of the bucket carriers for the show but she didn't stick at that for long before transferring to the ice cream stand.

"Can you try feeding him for me?" Mitch handed over the cool box of fish. Cleo took it from him and kneeled down on the dock as Ronnie chirped at her. She then pulled out a pair of tongs from her bag.

"Um?"

The tongs were a little odd, not the oddest thing about this but her reasoning was an allergy. Fair enough. Allergies were fickle things. He's grown up his whole life allergic to cats, yet now owned his own little cat. A Russian Blue to be exact, a breed that was thankfully hypoallergenic but it still stood.

Cleo tossed the fish into the pool and Ronnie shot off to grab it.

"There you go, problem solved."

"Well I don't get it," Mitch admitted. He really didn't, it was completely and utterly insane. "But whatever you did works."

"So does that mean extra shifts for me?"

* * *

Even with these developments, it was a worrying case, and it got no less worrying. And no less baffling. As the days went on Ronnie still only let that girl, Cleo, feed him or do anything with him. She had joked about getting extra shifts, but he'd gladly have her here every spare moment she had if it would help Ronnie. Unfortunately he had no say in staff scheduling, so that warranted another trip to Ms Geddes to explain to her why he, one of the dolphin students, needed the ice cream girl in for more shifts. Granted it did look an odd situation, a fourty odd year old man asking for a teenage girl to work more but it was for the good of Ronnie.

Mitch watched as Ronnie swam up and down along the gate, ignoring the fish he'd thrown in - live fish at that to try and get his attention. He'd dealt with hopeless cases before but with Ronnie there was still hope as long as Cleo kept feeding him.

The girl was willing to come and help but as long as Ronnie continued to not adjust to his new surroundings, his chances of living successfully in captivity were low. Like he told Cleo, most rescued dolphins adjusted to the hand feeding fairly quickly but not Ronnie.

And then Cleo tossed a ball into the pool which Ronnie immediately tossed back to her.

"It's amazing, he hasn't been trained to do that."

It wasn't difficult to teach but it needed teaching. Ronnie was a wild rescue with no training and no strength to do any kind of tricks.

"I don't know what's gotten into him."

"It's remarkable. You have a strange affect on this dolphin, it's like…" he thought for a second until he realised exactly what it was like, "he has a crush on you."

Maybe a dolphin wasn't the most romantic of admirers but if Cleo's presence made Ronnie happy then so be it. Maybe he wouldn't think quite the same if it was him, but at least Cleo gave Ronnie hope.

He kept up that thought the whole way home, as he threw a frozen meal in the microwave and settled in at the TV with his cat Perdita at his feet, and even as he went to bed that night.

* * *

He let go of his hope the moment he saw Ronnie the next morning. The dolphin was lying in the shallows, a mournful crying noise escaping his mouth. His temperature was high, too high, and the lack of food the dolphin had eaten raised alarm bells. Ronnie's chances were very low at this point.

Antibiotics could work but Ronnie had very little strength. And this was the one time Cleo didn't seem willing to come. She relented quickly but when she didn't appear he called again. She seemed far more willing this time and arrived soon after.

Even Cleo's presence did nothing. Ronnie just listlessly floated around, then returned to the gate beside Jemima's pen. He filled her in on Ronnie's condition as Ronnie just floated in front of them.

Harrison Bennet's son chose that moment to walk past, the boy had been using the library to research marine conservation. Mitch had set out a few papers for him, some he had written himself and a recently published thesis from a student at Griffith University. It was an incredibly written piece of work that surprised even him with the immense complexities of dolphins. And this was from a teacher in training, not even someone specifically studying his field, yet she had everything backed up with research and photographic evidence.

"Zane," Cleo called him over, "have you read anything about dolphins fasting?"

"What?" Zane laughed, "like the forty hour famine? Yeah, right."

He knew Harrison to a degree and it seemed his son inherited his entitled attitude. Great. The elite of the Gold Coast were often at various events at the Park - the function hall was a surprisingly high class venue that was offered for charity galas and raffles. People liked the dolphin shows and they all got paid double time for hosting the night time shows for the events. Harrison Bennett was always among them.

Mitch had never heard of dolphins fasting, which was just one of the things bothering him about Ronnie.

"Who's in the other pond?" Cleo pointed to where Ronnie was back at Jemima's pen, nosing the slats in the gates. "What's Ronnie doing over there? Is that the pregnant dolphin they rescued the other day?"

"Yep, that's Jemima," Mitch confirmed. Ronnie swam up alongside the gate and surfaced at the far end. Over the walkway he could see Jemima surface at the same point in her pen.

"Wait a minute," Cleo gently took one of the folders from Zane, one of Mitch's own papers and quickly thumbed through it.

"That thing you were saying the other day, about dolphins being instinctive carers?"

He remembered his studies into that, it felt like so long ago, but it was maybe a year, maybe two years ago? Instinctive carers though…

"Here it is …" Cleo began reading aloud, quoting his words about how behaviour of other dolphins during pregnancy, just in his professionally written scientific language.

"Does anyone understand that long-winded tripe?"

Cleo ignored Zane and wandered towards Ronnie's pen, engrossed in reading.

"I, uh, wrote that article, mate."

Zane shut up after that. Not quite his father's son then. Harrison was an argue he was right until everyone just gave up and agreed, no matter how wrong he actually was. Zane to his credit tagged along with them.

"Check this out," Cleo had snagged a bucket of fish and some gloves and led them to the dock at Ronnie's pool. She called for the dolphin who appeared at her feet instantly. Cleo tossed him a fish, which Ronnie then held in his mouth, swam across the pool and tossed it over to Jemima.

"Get out of here, you cheeky fella."

As soon as he opened the gates between the pens, Ronnie sped through into Jemima's pen.

So that was it, the whole time. Ronnie was just caring for Jemima.

Then everything took a turn far more confusing and unexpected. A group of people charged up shouting about a wedding, Harrison Bennett included.

A very weird end to a very weird day. And he had a feeling it was about to get weirder.

* * *

Mitch took in a seat in the wheelie chair in front of the computer. It drifted backward as he sat down so he walked it forward again.

Today was a weird day.

Ronnie's infection was still lingering but the dolphin's depression had lifted now he was in the pen with Jemima. There was something about the girl, Cleo, that just wasn't… he couldn't describe it. There was nothing off about her but there was just Something.

He felt weird about this. Even if it was his job. Sort of. He covered everything to do with the dolphins. This was to do with the dolphins. Mitch opened up the program on the computer to access the security files for his area. Today was the 15th. Ronnie came in three days ago so the 12th. He scrolled back and found the right file.

He wasn't really sure what he expected to see as he skipped through the footage until he saw Cleo. She walked along the path by the pens and cut across the staff only walkway between Ronnie and Jemima's pen. She stopped suddenly part way across the walkway and crouched down on the walkway, looking down at the water. Mitch unconsciously leaned forward, closer to the screen. Cleo looked around her and hurried back down the walkway to set her bag down on the ground. She looked around again before diving into the water without hesitation.

He stared transfixed at the screen as he zoomed in on Ronnie's pen. The dolphin had left his listless floating to swim over to where Cleo went into the water. It had been a good thirty seconds since Cleo went in and she had yet to resurface.

One of the junior trainers, Andi, passed by the zoomed in screen and still no Cleo. People could hold their breath for a while but that was sea water - it hurt the eyes.

Mitch zoomed back out and watched the water for anything. He saw Ronnie swimming along and then finally Cleo. His jaw went slack as he watched Cleo swim. The girl had no legs, but instead a long golden tail with a broad fin.

It couldn't be real. She… They weren't…

His employee was a Mermaid.

Mitch glanced around the empty room, checking no one was around to witness this. Mermaids. Mermaids should not exist. Biologically they should not exist. Yet here was one.

On the screen, Cleo dragged herself from the water, the tail that so easily propelled her through the water now a heavy weight the girl was struggling to move. A quick flick of her hand and a ball of water was thrown back into the pool and then Cleo was human looking again.

This was …

Dangerous. If anyone saw Cleo, or saw this tape… that poor girl.

He quickly found what he was looking for and deleted the file. Then he thought. Cleo had been here, what, almost two months. This can't have been the first time. And very unlikely to be the last.

* * *

Mitch spent the next few years a very busy man.

He completed his degree to earn the title of Doctor, then completed a couple more degrees. No more Mitch, everyone called him Dr Ross now. His duties became less to do with dolphins and more to do with paperwork. Laurie took over his dolphin trainer role as Dr Ross focused on taking over the duties as director when Ms Geddes retirement became official.

He also had to keep up to date with erasing every file with evidence of Mermaids.

Yeah, Mermaids.

Turns out Cleo wasn't the only one. Her friends were both Mermaids too.

When Laurie approved Cleo as the newest dolphin trainer, Mitch swore he almost had an aneurysm. A Mermaid? As a dolphin trainer? Performing with water? In front of a crowd? When Laurie shared his concerns about Cleo's initial performance, he did his best to sway him towards letting Cleo go back to work the ice cream cart.

It didn't work but somehow, somehow, there were never any major incidents. There were a few but nothing the girls couldn't handle and nothing his magic tape removing skills wouldn't solve.

As much as Cleo had been a great employee, he was very happy the day she resigned and went off to uni. He could finally take a break from his constant watching. He still checked the tapes, about once a week or so out of habit, just in case but there was never anything. In a way he felt redundant. His job of trying to keep the mermaids in the marine park safe was done.

And life went on as it always does.

* * *

After years of essentially being the director, just without the pay check, he was finally, finally officially made the director of the marine park. He was then immediately pressured from his higher ups to expand the Sea World education program but decided it was too much work to find the schools themselves. So they left that up to him and sent him all the applications sent in by various schools across the districts. There was no shortage of schools in the area so it ate up his time looking through proposals for sponsorships from each of them. He wanted to find the right school, for this to be worthwhile with kids who would actually get something out of this.

Something caught his eye when he reached the twentieth school on his list. The name of the woman who was currently principal at the school - Rita Santos. He knew that name. It was on the front of the student thesis paper from Griffiths University. The paper that made him understand just how complex dolphins really were. It wasn't the most scientific heavy paper, but it read like someone who knew what they were talking about with deep dives into behaviours that some scientists had barely begun to observe. With evidence the student gathered herself.

Someone with that kind of knowledge would be an incredible asset and secretly he just wanted an excuse to talk to her about that thesis.

So he reached out to his boss and let them know his choice was Suncoast High and next thing he knew he had a meeting in three days' time with the principal.

A new dolphin came in the day before his meeting with Principal Santos at Suncoast High, Heidi. She immediately brought back to his days with Ronnie. The female acted the same way Ronnie had but this time there was no Mermaid to help fix things, just good old fashioned patience. He had plenty of patience but nothing he tried worked.

He dressed on the morning of his meeting the same as always, shirt and trousers with a little extra cologne for a change. Gone were the days he could get away with wearing a wetsuit and shorts with unbrushed hair shoved under a cap. But he was a professional now and he didn't think a wetsuit was appropriate for a meeting.

When he arrived at Suncoast High he was greeted by a short woman with dark red hair - Principal Santos - and, presumably, one of the students who was quickly introduced as Evie. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but there was something about the woman he instantly liked.

She agreed to his proposal of a tour of the marine park the following day and then the girl from the school magazine, Evie was set loose. He liked her direct no-nonsense attitude. She would be writing an article about the program to try and encourage more students to join and she was prepared with many, many questions, about the course, about his job and of course what made him choose Suncoast High out of all the schools?

"Well, I could say it was the quality of teaching and that would be true." It was. Suncoast High was one of the higher rated schools when it came down to exam results and had a high percentage of graduates go onto high rated colleges, but it wasn't the whole reason.

"But my main reason was because of your principal." He flashed one of his signature smiles.

The two students both turned to look at their principal as she looked away and gave a slight laugh before meeting his eyes. She was gorgeous.

He'd never had much luck in long term relationships, his hours were too long and too constant for any woman to really stick around longer than a month or so. His last one ended six months ago.

"I've been wanting to meet you ever since I read your Master's thesis

"My thesis?" She seemed surprised that someone else had actually read it. While he supposed it was unusual for a teacher's thesis to end up in the hands of a marine biologist…

"On dolphins?" For a second his stomach sunk, thinking he'd gotten the wrong Rita Santos but he pressed on. "Until I read that I had no idea that dolphins were such complex creatures. It was absolutely fascinating."

"Thank you. I'm flattered," she laughed slightly as she spoke. Before continuing on leading them up to her office.

"I do have one question for you." Principal Santos turned to look at him as they walked up the stairs. "Your thesis reads like you were actually living with the dolphins. How did you get so close to them?"

Wild dolphins were different to the captive ones he usually dealt with. The wild ones were friendly enough but there was always a distance. The captive ones, or at least the ones he worked with, allowed a more close relationship with their handlers.

"My family had a yacht," she offered as an explanation, "I spent a lot of time in the water."

"Perhaps in time I could persuade you to tell me more."

Rita never really responded to that as the boy with the camera asked for a photo.

It had been a while since he met anyone he really wanted to get to know. And Rita Santos was one of them.

* * *

The deja vu hit him hard.

So hard, he found himself in front of the newly upgraded computer with the same shitty chair, and accessing the camera files. He had a suspicion. It briefly crossed his mind when he first met Rita, with that comment she made, spending a lot of time in the water. Then again when Heidi was a completely different dolphin when they returned to her. He'd seen that before. With Cleo and Ronnie.

Rita had essentially admitted she'd done something but wouldn't say what, but if it had helped Heidi he'd let it slide. He might also be a little bit smitten with her.

Dr Ross opened the file on the computer and skimmed through the footage until he found it. His proof that once again he had Mermaids in the Marine Park. He watched curious to see what she actually did to help Heidi.

She swam with the dolphin and spoke to her until Heidi happily swam off. That was it.

He slumped back in his seat and promptly deleted the file. That explained a few things.

* * *

That was how he found himself back to checking the security footage on a far more regular basis. Particularly once Rita's niece, Mimmi, got a job on the toy cart. That Mermaid was easily the worst for swimming in the park. He saw her get splashed on her first day and run into the pool for safety, then swimming in the pool with Chris on her second day. Then another splashing incident with another Mermaid in which the pair of them got caught under the bridge with a group of people looking for them. And then swimming again with that pregnant rescue.

He tried a few times during his meetings with Rita to steer the conversation towards Mimmi and subtly hint maybe this wasn't the best place for her but the woman was quick to deflect anything personal. She was more closed off than the first couple days at the school and the marine park, still he enjoyed his meetings with her about the education program, she knew a lot and was a genuinely nice person, with a good sense of humour. Those meetings fast became a highlight of his week, he liked her company and liked her as a person, beyond just a professional capacity.

There was one such meeting he finally threw caution to the wind and asked her out for coffee.

She had been hesitant and then revealed she was already with someone. Another woman. He couldn't remember her name but it began with a 'V' and wasn't your typical human name. Another Mermaid maybe?

That meeting ended in an awkward tone.

Shortly after Rita suddenly resigned from her position as principal at Suncoast High and he didn't have any contact with her for a couple of weeks. He worried he'd made her uncomfortable until she showed up at his office with takeaway coffee as an apology for having to deal with her replacement - an awful woman reminiscent of Ms Geddes but worse - Ms Trumble.

The next day the Park got in another rescue, a male called Hector who'd been mistreated in a run down family owned 'aquarium' a few miles down the coast. He asked Rita if she'd come down and have a look. Her hesitation was understandable. Dolphins meant water and he'd never told her he already knew that she was a Mermaid.

She came anyway.

It was amazing seeing the change in the dolphin's behaviour once he realised there was a Mermaid. He swam straight up to the dock and began chattering away. Mitch couldn't hear what Rita said back to the dolphin but it just made him chatter more excitedly. And then it all went wrong.

Hector threw water up into the air splashing them both. Rita froze upand he had no idea what to say. She looked terrified. He wanted to say something, anything but she dove into the water before he could think of the right thing.

For all his years watching them over the camera, he'd never seen a Mermaid in person. He caught a glimpse of Rita under the water before she surfaced and the pure gracefulness of how her tail moved was incredible.

"It's alright," Mitch crouched down at the edge of the pool, his knees aching as he did so. Oh to be young again. "I'm not going to tell anyone, or do anything. I promise." He held out his hand to help Rita out of the water.

She was scared, it was easy enough to see but she accepted his offering, wrapping her hand around his wrist. He did the same and counted down before trying to help the Mermaid out. He regretted it. She weighed a lot more than he expected.

Her tail was built like a dolphins; all muscle, but looked like a fish. The scales were a mix of golden, orange and beige tones, complete with countershading and striped patterns curling horizontally around her tail.

Her chest was covered in scales that smoothed out around her neck and around her back.

The quick look he got before averting his eyes, wasn't quite long enough to see properly if there were actual scales or not.

"There's no camera's or anything around here so you're good."

"Thanks," Rita spoke for the first time, her voice quiet. He desperately searched for something to say to try to help her.

"I'm really not going to tell anyone. You're not the first Mermaid I've met. This place seems to attract them." He gave an awkward laugh. Maybe it was the dolphins that drew them all.

Rita gave a small smile.

It only took a few seconds for her to change back. He'd seen Cleo change back over the camera, but seeing Mermaid powers in real life... Rita had pulled all the water away from her, like Cleo had done, and then dried off.

He stood up slowly before offering his hand to Rita to help her up.

"You said you've met another Mermaid?" Rita asked. She was still quiet, but he empathised with her.

"It's a long story."

"How about a coffee?" Rita offered, "my place?"

"Sounds good. I get off for lunch in an hour."

"I'll text you the address."

* * *

Mitch once again took his seat in front of the computer. Mimmi was working today which meant there was a high chance of some Mermaid activity. It had been two months since he told Rita about what he'd been doing for the last eight or nine years. He had taken on that role with no intention of receiving any thanks or gratitude but had to admit it was nice to finally get some.

He was only human after all.

**Author's Note:**

> This is based on a headcannon I had that Dr Ross knew about Mermaids and deleted all the footage of Mermaids at the marine park. 
> 
> Hope everyone enjoyed. I started this at 10 to 1 in the morning and this is the most I've written in one go in a loong time


End file.
